Class 2A girls basketball: Northeast takes down Fairview

Northeast's Lanesia Williams (1) battles for the ball with the Fairview defense during the state high school basketball tournament Class 2A girls semifinal game between Fairview High School and Northeast High School at the State Fair Arena on Friday, March 8, 2013, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman

The top-ranked Vikings opened the game hot from behind the arc and used a suffocating defense to dismantle defending champion Fairview 51-35 in the Class 2A semifinals at State Fair Arena.

It was a rematch of last season’s title game in which the Jackets rallied from an eight-point deficit to win 38-36.

“I just approached it like it’s another game,” Northeast senior T’ona Edwards said. “I know we say we’re on a mission, and that’s not the revenge game to us, it’s more like get past them and get to the real goal.”

Northeast (29-0) will play the winner of Alva and Dale at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in State Fair Arena. The Vikings last won a state title in 1979.

But with the type of defense they played Friday, a gold ball could be attainable.

Fairview (25-5) committed 19 turnovers and shot just 29.7 percent from the field.

Credit that to second-year Northeast coach Londaryl Perry, who admitted he was in the stands watching film as his players were getting dressed.

“I went over defensive scheme earlier before we came here, but I still was trying to see in case they run other options what do I do,” he said. “Each team that we play has different types of personnel, so we cannot always trap the same. We make that adjustment based on the personnel.”

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Jacob Unruh is a graduate of Northeastern State University. He was born in Cherokee and raised near Vera where he attended Caney Valley High School.During his tenure at NSU, Unruh wrote for The Northeastern (NSU's student newspaper), the...